1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispenser of a refrigerator and, more particularly, to a dispenser for a refrigerator capable of preventing loss of a drain pan and widening a storage space inside the refrigerator by reducing the size of the dispenser.
2. Description of the Background Art
The latest version of refrigerators is equipped with a dispenser which allows users to take water or ice kept in a refrigerator without a necessity of opening a refrigerator door. Accordingly, with such a dispenser, leakage of cooling air inside the refrigerator can be prevented and users' convenience can be increased.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator having a dispenser in accordance with a conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional refrigerator includes a refrigerator body 102 having a refrigerating chamber (not shown) and a freezing chamber (not shown) therein, a refrigerating chamber door 104 for opening and closing the refrigerating chamber, a freezing chamber door 106 for opening and closing the freezing chamber, and a dispenser 108 installed at the refrigerating chamber door 104 and providing water or ice kept in the refrigerating chamber without a necessity of opening the refrigerating chamber door 104.
As shown in FIG. 2, the dispenser 108 includes a dispenser case 110 mounted at an outer surface of the refrigerating chamber door 104 and having a receiving space 112 for placing a cup therein, a water supply pipe 114 disposed at an upper surface of the dispenser housing 110 and supplying water or ice, an operation lever 116 disposed at a rear side of the dispenser housing 110 and opening and closing the water supply pipe 114 according to user's manipulation, and a drain pan 120 detachably mounted at a lower surface of the dispenser housing 110 and collect water leaked from the water supply pipe 114.
A mounting unit 124 is formed at a lower side of the dispenser housing 110, on which the drain pan 120 is mounted.
The water supply pipe 114 is connected to a water container (not shown) disposed inside the refrigerating chamber (not shown) by a water supply pipe 122, and opened and closed according to an operation of the operation lever 116 to supply water into the cup inserted in the dispenser housing 110.
The drain pan 120 is detachably mounted on the mounting unit 124 formed at the lower side of the dispenser housing 110, and a pan cover 128 having a plurality of holes 126 through which leaked water is to flow is mounted at an upper surface of the drain pan 120.
The conventional dispenser 108 for a refrigerator constructed as described above operates as follows.
When the cup is put into the receiving space 112 of the dispenser housing 110, the operation lever 116 operates to open the water supply pipe 114. Then, water is supplied into the cup through the water supply pipe 114. When the cup is taken out from the dispenser housing 110, the operation lever 116 returns to the original state to close the water supply pipe 114. At this time, water failing to be supplied to the cup from the water supply pipe 114 is collected into the drain pan 120, thereby preventing leaked water from flowing down on the refrigerator.
When the drain pan 120 is filled with water, a user lifts up the drain pan 120 in the direction of ‘T’ indicated by an arrow from the mounting unit 124 of the dispenser housing 110 and then takes it out in the direction of ‘S’ indicated by an arrow.
However, the conventional dispenser 108 of the refrigerator constructed as described above has the following problems.
That is, for example, since the drain pan 120 is disposed in a manner of being simply put in the dispenser housing 110 rather than being locked at the lower portion of the dispenser housing 110, if the refrigerator is moved or used for a long period, the drain pan 120 may be separated from the dispenser housing 110, and accordingly, the drain pan 120 may be lost in some cases.
In addition, when the drain pan is separated from the dispenser housing, it needs to be lifted up in the direction of ‘T’ and then taken out in the direction of ‘S’, so it is difficult to separate the drain pan and water filled in the drain pan can be poured over in the course of separation of the drain pan from the dispenser housing 110.
Moreover, since a certain space is required to mount the drain pan in the dispenser housing, the dispenser housing is to widen, and accordingly, since the space taken by the dispenser housing is increased, the storage space inside the refrigerating chamber becomes relatively narrow.